Lost at Sea
by Sophie Ellem
Summary: “I decided that no matter what you say, I will always be there to protect you. No matter what happens.” She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes widening. He gently smiled before lowering his head, easing his lips onto hers.
1. Missing

_Okay, so I've wanted to write a Code Lyoko story for a while, but I could never think of an idea. Then this just kind of came to me, and I couldn't shake it. I'm like that. I just had to write it down and I decided to post it so I could have your opinion. Please read and review!_

_I don't own Code Lyoko._

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**Chapter 1**

"Skid ready to dive, T-minus 10 seconds. All set Jeremy?" Aelita asked as she made the final preparations for today's mission.

Today, they were navigating the Skid to look for other Replikas that Xana may have created. Also, Jeremy had a feeling there was more to the digital sea then he originally thought. There hadn't been many activated towers recently so Yumi and Ulrich were suspicious of what Xana might be planning, but Jeremy knew they had to take a risk. It was the best time to follow out their plan.

"Yeah, Jeremy, can we finally test our new threads?" Odd called out.

"For your information, they are highly specialized suits that, if effective, will keep you from being virtualized into the digital sea. You can't just jump out of the Skid and hope for the best," Jeremy replied.

"Jeremy's right, Odd, you never know what might happen," Aelita added.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm not afraid to try," Odd said.

"Anyway, prepare to dive into the digital sea," Jeremy instructed while making final adjustments on the screen.

The Skid hesitated a moment in midair before plunging into the dark depths of Lyoko.

"Aelita, here's the coordinates of something I want you to check out. The supercomputer can only get a hazy image of it, and it's something I've never seen before," Jeremy said while pressing various keys on the board.

"No problem. Rotation," Aelita replied. "Powering Turboprop and auxiliary generators."

The Skid sped off into the darkness. The lights only reached about a fifty feet radius around the sub. So far, no one could see anything.

Yumi stared out of her Navskid, not really looking at her surroundings, but at her mind's eye. _I wonder where William is._ _I wish I could see where he goes after we defeat him._ She started to remember what had happened just last week. William had been just seconds away from throwing Aelita into the digital sea. Yumi was the only one left; she was the only one who could save her. Throwing her fans, she realized that they wouldn't make it in time. Using her mind to direct them, the fans suddenly disappeared. Milliseconds later, they reappeared nearly two feet from William's head. The fans hit their mark and William dissolved, Aelita unharmed. Has her power of telekinesis developed into teleportation? No one knew of it except her, and she didn't want to tell anyone just yet.

_I wonder if I could teleport myself. Maybe I could find William. But that's silly, how can I teleport myself if I don't know where I'm going?_ Yumi thought. She decided to give it a try. Focusing all of her energy, she pictured herself next to William. _Send me to William. Send me to William. Send me to William._

Yumi's last thoughts were of astonishment, seeing her own body vanish in front of her very eyes. That was all she remembered before she blacked out.

Yumi disappeared from the Skid, unknown to her friends.

----------------------

"Uh oh, it looks like we have a couple fish faces on our tails," Ulrich remarked a while later.

Aelita brought up the radar. "You're right. Ready to fight them?"

"All set, Princess," Odd replied.

"Yumi?"

Aelita was answered with silence. "Yumi? Are you there?"

"Come on, Yumi, don't scare us like this," Ulrich added.

Still there was no answer.

"Jeremy, what's going on?" Aelita asked, panic starting to come into her voice.

"Hold on, let me open the Skid window," Jeremy replied. A window opened to show the entire layout of the Skid. In each of their designated spots were the outlines of Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd… but no Yumi. "I… I don't believe it."

"What's wrong, Einstein?" Odd asked.

Jeremy punched keys into the board, making sure nothing was wrong with the supercomputer. He gulped. "Well, from what the Skid tells me, Yumi isn't on board with you."

"What?"

"That's impossible!"

"Are you sure the supercomputer isn't acting up again?"

"It's possible," Jeremy replied to the last question. "But right now I want you to return to Lyoko. I don't know what happened to Yumi, but it's likely that the same thing could happen to you. I don't want to take any chances."

Ulrich pounded on the side of his chair. "Yumi, where are you? Why does this always happen to you?" he whispered.

-------------------

Jeremy hit a few more keys before sighing heavily and leaning back in his chair.

"Any luck?" Aelita asked.

"From what I can figure out, there were no problems at all with the supercomputer for the duration of this mission. Yumi boarded the Skid with all of you, but then she didn't respond and the Skid showed no signs of her presence," Jeremy replied. He ran a hand through his hair. "It doesn't make sense. How can she just disappear like that? There's hardly any trace of her." He took the glasses off his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Can you find her?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremy folded his hands in front of him, a sign that he was really thinking. "It's definitely possible, but I'm not sure what percent. I could try to find her digital trace, like we did with William. That's all I can think of at the moment." He turned back toward the computer. "I'll start looking for her trace now. The sooner we find her, the better. You can head back to school. I'll call you if anything comes up."

"I'll stay here and help," Aelita said.

Ulrich and Odd turned toward the elevator. Walking out into the sunlight, Odd turned to Ulrich. "You never got to tell her, did you? How much you like her."

Ulrich slowly shook his head. "No, I didn't."

------------------

Yumi felt herself slowly drift back into consciousness. What had happened to her? She felt like an eighteen-wheeler truck hit her. _Wait, this doesn't feel right. _It felt like she was swimming. She quickly opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by… water? _I'm in the digital sea. _Yumi made a mental note to tell Jeremy that these suits really did work. _Oh gosh, Jeremy! They probably all think something terrible has happened to me. Him and Aelita and Odd and… Ulrich._

_So, what do I do now?_ Yumi got her answer when a shark started coming towards her. This was not good. She turned and started swimming away as fast as she could, but the shark was still gaining on her. _If I wasn't dead before, I definitely am now._

Suddenly, Yumi felt herself being pulled by an underwater current. It was so powerful that she couldn't escape it, and after a while she just let it pull her along. She thought that maybe it would help her get back to Lyoko. Then she realized something: _I can breathe underwater._

What seemed like a few hours later, Yumi noticed that it seemed unnaturally dark behind her. The water had a natural glow to it, but behind her, there was none at all. Yumi turned around and her eyes widened. What stood before her seemed like a giant black hole, like the ones in space. But how could there be one underwater? Well, Yumi was sure to find out, because the current was leading right into it.

Plunging into the black hole, Yumi felt as if she had left the water and was now free-falling through air. Her stomach rose to her throat and she screamed for dear life. Her arms flailed around, desperately reaching for anything to hold on to. She reentered the water with a splash, then gasped as she saw what was before her.

The digital sea had turned from a bluish tint to a red one. Submerged before her was another Replika, but this wasn't like the others. Yumi had a feeling that this was where Xana's main headquarters was. And where Xana was, William would probably be there too.

Yumi swam toward it, eager to see what she would find.

----------------

Ulrich lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't even think of sleeping. He felt more along the lines of using his pillow as a punching bag. Odd had fallen asleep almost instantly and was now snoring, Kiwi harmonizing with him. Ulrich finally decided to try to fall asleep. Maybe they would be able to look for Yumi in the morning.

"We have to find you, Yumi," he murmured to himself. "We just have to."

* * *

_So, what do you think? I would really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback. This is my first story for Code Lyoko, and I wanted the characters to be as close to the show as possible. It was really hard to write this chapter because I had to think of what to say for Jeremy and I wanted it to be believable._

_Questions? Comments? Concerns? Random stuff you just want to say to me?_

_Press the GO button!_

_Tamiro :D_


	2. Plans

_Thank you so much to __**Lonelydreamer27**, __**"yumi"**__ (anonymous), __**"macfanboy"**__ (anonymous), and __**ulrich4me**__ for reviewing. When I saw that you reviewed, I started jumping up and down in my living room and my mom thought I was going crazy. Since I was so happy, I decided to start working on the next chapter. I hope you like it!_

_I don't own Code Lyoko.

* * *

_**Chapter 2 **

Jeremy and Aelita spent all night looking for Yumi. Still, they hadn't found a trace of her, and Jeremy was starting to lose hope.

"Jeremy, we have to keep trying," Aelita said. "Maybe she found a Replika and is safe on it."

"She's never going to be safe until we find her!" He yelled at the keyboard. "There's still so much we don't understand. Yumi could be virtualized, controlled by XANA, or worse, for all we know!" Jeremy was shaking; he was so frustrated.

Aelita slowly backed away, unsure of what to do. This wasn't the Jeremy she had grown to know... even love. Jeremy never became angry or flustered. He always had a clear head.

Jeremy turned and saw the hurt in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Aelita," he said. "I don't know what came over me. I just feel like I truly failed this time. Yumi might never come back."

Aelita only nodded. "Well, why don't you take a break. I'll take over and you can find us some breakfast." She raised her arms over her head and stretched.

Aelita was completely taken aback when she felt Jeremy's arms around her. He held her to him, almost to the point of crushing her. "Jeremy, what are you—"

"Every time I stop thinking of what I have to do, what to try next, I keep wondering what would have happened if you were the one to disappear," Jeremy said. He sighed and laid his head on her shoulder. Aelita was surprised to feel tears in his eyes. "I think I understand how Ulrich feels."

The two were interrupted when they heard a frantic beeping coming from the supercomputer.

-----------------------

When he woke up, Ulrich decided to climb the wall in the gym. He needed to get his mind off Yumi.

Now, it was about three hours later, and it wasn't helping much. All he could think about was that one class when they all had to climb the wall. Yumi had reached the top, smiling and making a peace sign as everyone clapped below. Ulrich kept going, each hand reaching for the next hold. He wanted to make it to the top, even if it kills him.

The sudden ringing of his cell phone almost made him fall off the wall. He pulled it out of his pocket and up to his ear after the third ring. "Jeremy? Did you find anything?"

"No… well, not exactly."

"Then why in the world are you calling me?!"

"If you could settle down for a moment, I was going to tell you that we have an activated tower."

Ulrich hung up with an exasperated sigh, then jumped down and ran towards the factory.

--------------------

About ten minutes later, they were all standing around the supercomputer… minus Yumi.

"So, if XANA is controlling Yumi, we'll know when William comes to attack us," Aelita explained.

"All right!!!" Odd yelled, jumping up and down. "Time for some hardcore interrogation. You know, I've been working on my Good Cop, Bad Cop…"

"That won't be necessary, Odd," Jeremy said while typing on the keyboard. "I've created a new program that will constantly monitor one's digital trace. It should work on Lyoko and in the entire digital sea."

"So it's like a tracking device?" Ulrich asked.

"Exactly," Jeremy replied. "We just need a fresh bit of William's digital trace. I think he'll take the bait."

"Bait?" Odd repeated, confused.

Aelita nodded, smiling. "_We_ activated the tower. Just before we called, Jeremy had finished installing the program. Naturally XANA will want to use the tower, so they'll send William. Didn't you notice that nothing unusual was happening this time?"

"Huh. I guess I didn't," Odd replied. "Wow, you two really outdone yourselves this time!"

"Where are we going this time?" Ulrich asked, impatient to start.

Jeremy brought up a window on the screen. "The mountain sector. Head to the scanner room."

The three headed to the elevator. "Okay, transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Aelita. Scanner, Ulrich. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Aelita." Jeremy hit the ENTER button on the keyboard. "Virtualization."

---------------------

"Hey, Jeremy, we've been here for a while," Ulrich asked a half hour later.

Jeremy checked the radar. "Maybe XANA is smarter than we thought." Right when he said that, four blinking red dots showed on the radar. "Oh, wait, four boxes at five o'clock."

Ulrich smiled. "Hmm. I guess I spoke too soon." He pulled the swords from his back, running to meet their foes.

-----------------------

Yumi was surprised to find that there wasn't a key lock like the other Replikas. Just a small tunnel shooting up and into whatever was up there. She had to do a belly crawl, but now she was staring in awe at what was before her.

The vast area before her was made of bits and pieces of all the different sectors. Around the edges were copies of the forest, mountain, desert, and ice sectors. In the center was a duplicate of Sector 5, the twists and turns in the walls molding themselves into a building. Yumi ran toward it, looking to see what was there.

Coming up to the door, she noticed that there was a handprint sensor. _Oh well, I might as well give it a shot._ Pressing her hand to the plate, she ducked down to escape the alarms.

Surprisingly, there was none. Instead, the doors opened without a hitch. Cautiously, Yumi entered the building. When she turned a corner, she almost came face to face with a couple of crawlers. Not something you want to do every day. She jumped back, just nearly escaping them. Looking out a window, she noticed three mantines circling the building. She hadn't seen those before. _Of course there'd be security. Better be careful._

After a few more twists and turns, she came up to another door, this time with a keypad. Pressing her luck, she keyed in the numbers for XANA, 9262. The doors opened once again. _I guess luck is on my side today._

Inside the room was another supercomputer, just like the one in the factory.

------------------------

All of the boxes had been destroyed except one, and now their job would be even harder.

"Here comes Mr. Sunshine," Odd remarked. It was true. Coming up behind them was William, riding on top of a tarantula. He jumped off and faced them.

"So, I guess I've been tricked," William said in his evil voice.

"Oh no, what made you think that?" Odd asked. William scowled at him, which made him back away.

A low sound, almost a growl, came from Ulrich's throat. "Where is she?"

William laughed. "I guess you're talking about Yumi. You know, a certain shark of mine told me that he had a little encounter with her yesterday."

Aelita was now furious, which was completely unlike her. "What happened to Yumi?"

William shrugged. "How should I know? The tide swept her away before my shark could do any damage." He turned to Ulrich. "Face it, your girlfriend's as good as gone."

With a loud cry, Ulrich launched himself at William. He pulled both of his swords out to face William's large one. As William swung at him, Ulrich flipped backwards onto his feet. William turned into smoke and followed him. They faced each other again, each swinging and blocking the other's attacks.

"Ugh, no one says that about Yumi and gets away with it!" Odd shouted, loading his paws with arrows to help Ulrich.

Aelita held out an arm to stop him. "Stop, Odd. You can't help him. Ulrich has to fight this battle for himself."

Odd stayed back, but he wasn't too happy about it.

Suddenly, William seemed to be distracted by something. Using this as an opening, Ulrich lunged with his sword, and William disappeared.

Ulrich sheathed his swords and straightened up, breathing heavily. "Jeremy, did you get the trace?"

"Yep," Jeremy replied. "Hook, line, and sinker."

----------------------

Yumi couldn't believe what was on this supercomputer. She was really thankful that Jeremy made them learn how to work it, or she wouldn't have understood anything. There was so much information of here, if she didn't know any better, she would say that Jeremy had been there!

Deciding to figure out where she was, she pulled up the radar, but it was of the mountain sector. Why would XANA have radar like this? But wait, someone was there. She counted a box, a tarantula, and… four red dots. That must be Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich! But was the other one William? No wonder she hadn't seen him yet.

Suddenly, all the dots vanished. She knew she had to get out of the room. Running to the doors, she opened them and ran straight into…

"Well, I finally found you," William said while holding her. She involuntarily flinched. His voice was so _menacing_.

Other than that, she was speechless. "William…"

William yanked on her arm, hauling her outside. He pulled her to the edge and was about to throw her off when—

All of a sudden, he fell to the ground, clutching his head. Yumi was so surprised that she was motionless. She couldn't do anything to help him.

After about half a minute, he finally stopped twitching, and slowly sat up. Tilting his head up to look at her, she noticed that his eyes were clear. "Yumi?" he asked, this time in his normal voice.

Yumi blinked, making sure this wasn't a dream. She also pinched herself before staring back at him. "What… w-what hap—"

He chuckled, not an evil one, but more cheerfully, like he used to be. "Come on, Yumi, you don't really expect me to be under XANA's control all the time, do you?"

Yumi could only stare back, at a loss for words.

* * *

_Yay!! Second chapter done! So, what do you think? I hope you liked the fluff. The Jeremy and Aelita part came earlier than planned, but I just got the idea in my head, so I had to use it. Also, I hope the fight scene wasn't too bad. I'm not very good at that, so I tried to avoid most of it. Thanks so much for reading! Please review!_

_Tamiro :D_


	3. William

_Thank you all so much for reading and your reviews!! I can't believe that I just started this story and it's gotten the most reviews out of all my stories! I feel so loved!!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! (Bows)_

_I figured out that I'm not very good at writing fight scenes or angsty stuff. I'll work on that. This isn't the best chapter, but I tried my hardest to make it good._

_I don't own Code Lyoko._

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Chapter 3

Yumi blinked once or twice before finally gaining her voice. "B-but… how?"

William stood up, dusting his pants off. He held his hand out to her. "It's a long story. Will you walk with me?"

Yumi gingerly took his hand before following him. William led them deeper into the copy of the forest sector till they came to a small stream. Yumi's eyes widened. It looked so real!

William released her hand before sitting down on the grass. "This is my favorite place to just relax and think." He patted the ground beside him.

Yumi knelt down, still hesitant. Looking around, she involuntarily pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, how is this possible? I mean, Lyoko was destroyed, and you…"

"Well, I don't really remember exactly what happened," William said, scratching his head.

"That's from the scyphozoa," she replied. "It erased your memory and put you under the control of XANA."

William nodded. "When I woke up, I was here. I was a bit scared, but I decided to wait it out. I thought you would come for me." The last part he murmured.

Yumi felt heartbroken for her friend. "William-"

"Later on I found out what had happened," he continued, cutting her off. "XANA could control me, but not all the time. He tried, though." He gave a small chuckle, forcing it to come out.

Yumi looked away, towards the stream. "So you just hang out here in-between?"

He shrugged. "There was nowhere else I could go."

Yumi stretched out next to him, relaxing her sore legs. "This place is so peaceful. There was never a stream in the real forest sector," she said, trying to change the subject.

"That was XANA's doing," William replied. "He's a lot smarter than we originally thought. He uses the water to strengthen his monsters."

Yumi nodded. "So, XANA must be treating you well for you to work for him."

William stared at her, trying to catch her gaze. When she wouldn't look at him, his mouth opened slightly in disbelief. "Is that what you think, Yumi? That I actually want to work for XANA?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what to believe, William. After all, you were only on Lyoko once. I never even liked the idea in the first place."

William reached his hand out to hers. "Yumi-"

Yumi jerked her hand away, standing up. "You know, I don't even want to hear it!" she yelled. "Why couldn't you just listen to Aelita? Was that so hard?"

William couldn't reply. Yumi started pacing back and forth, muttering to herself. "And another thing," she cried, turning towards him, "when you tried to fight that scyphozoa, did you ever think how we would feel if anything happened to you? Why did you have to be a hero?"

"I'm sorry, Yumi," he whispered. "I don't know what happened. I guess I got overexcited. I thought that if I did well my first time, maybe you would be impressed and accept me as a warrior."

"But Lyoko isn't a game, William!" she shouted. She was surely doing a lot of that today. "Sometimes it's a matter of life and death for us. You don't know how many times Aelita was almost thrown into the digital sea, and that time when I fell in…" Yumi had resumed pacing by then. "You certainly didn't help matters much, attacking us every time."

He reached out, grabbing her arm. "I'm sorry, okay? What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, I can't deal with this right now," Yumi replied, yanking her arm away. She turned around and started walking away. After walking a few steps, she stopped. "Oh, God, what am I doing? I don't even know where I'm going." She reached up and slowly dragged her hands down her face. _Maybe this is all a dream._ _Maybe in a few moments I'll wake up and…_ It wasn't likely and she knew that.

She sighed before turning back around, her hands on her hips. "So, care to show me around?" she asked him.

-----------------------------------

Ulrich and Aelita were standing next to Jeremy as he worked on the supercomputer. Odd had left once he realized it would be boring, saying he needed his beauty sleep.

"All right, I'm entering William's digital trace into the tracking program… now," Jeremy said, his eyes never leaving the screen. All three leaned forward as a window popped onto the screen. There was a blinking neon red dot, traveling across the screen in a sea of blue.

"So, that's him?" Ulrich asked.

"It would seem so."

They kept watching while the red dot continued moving, diving deeper and deeper into the digital sea. Aelita looked at another part of the window and gasped. The boys looked away from the screen to stare at her. "Jeremy… William's heading toward the coordinates that you wanted us to examine," she cried, pointing to the window.

Jeremy quickly typed commands, bringing up two more windows on the screen. "You're right," he said. "He's traveling on a straight course, and should pass the coordinates in eleven seconds."

They all held their breath as the time passed. Then the red dot blinked once more before completely disappearing.

Ulrich broke the silence that followed. "What just happened?"

Jeremy typed more commands into the computer.

"His digital trace completely vanished. Is that possible?" Aelita asked.

Jeremy leaned back in his chair, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It appears there's more to the digital sea than we thought."

---------------------------------

While Yumi was exploring the large building in the center of the Replika, she was surprised to find a balcony on the top floor. _This day is full of surprises._ Walking out, she noticed William standing to her left, leaning on the railing. She walked over and joined him.

"This is quite a sight," she remarked, staring out in the open. Looking out, she could see the entire Replika. Turning to look at each of the different sectors, it was almost magical.

"Yeah," William breathed. "Sometimes when he comes here, he just stares out at everything. The worst part is, he has a horrible look in his eye." He shuddered involuntarily.

"So, what do you do all the time here? I mean, there's nothing that much to do," Yumi asked him.

"Well, I've been training with my sword a lot," he replied. "I feel like I'm really improving."

"I'm sure you do," she muttered, looking away. Pictures of their recent battles were flying past her eyes, like a roll of film.

They spent a few minutes just standing there, neither with anything to say.

Yumi turned her head to look at him. "William, you keep saying 'he.' Who is XANA? Who controls it?"

He backed away from the railing, turning his whole body towards her. Confusion was written on his face. "You don't know? Didn't you find it odd that whenever you had to disappear, they caught you? I thought you would've searched his office already."

* * *

_Dun dun dun. Did you figure out who it is? A little idea of mine. Also, some interesting things will happen in the next chapter. (Am I going too fast? This story is already about a third done. I don't have a lot of patience.)_

_I hope it wasn't too painful for you. If it was, sorry. :( If you liked it, thanks for reading:)_

_Please review! They're greatly appreciated!!_

_Rainfire_

_P.S. There is a really important discovery in the next chapter. Do you want Odd or Ulrich to find it? Please respond!!!_


	4. Losing Control

_Hi everyone!! Thank you so much for reading!! I can't believe I already have 400 hits! You are all so awesome!!!_

_Luckily I had a snow day today, so plenty of time to work on this chapter! I hope you enjoy it!_

_I do not own Code Lyoko._

* * *

**Chapter 4 **

"Delmass," Yumi said, staring at William. "Our principal. The one who can never win that stupid game?"

He nodded. "Yep, he's the one. I thought you would've already figured it out."

"Yeah, but… I mean," she stammered. Yumi turned back to William, a horrified look on her face. "Don't tell me Sissi is in on this too."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Please. Sissi would be walking around bragging about it if she was."

"True," she replied. "I just can't believe that XANA was always right under our noses." She raised a hand to her forehead. "I have to remember to tell Jeremy as soon as I see him."

William shrugged. "Let's worry about that later. What should we do now?"

Yumi walked a few steps before turning again to face him. "Up for some sparring? Just go easy on me. I don't know what would happen if you de-virtualize me."

William became confused. "But won't you be sent back home?"

She shook her head. "Whenever we were de-virtualized on a Replika, we would just appear asleep on the Skid. I'm not sure what would happen here, since the Skid is docked. I don't want to risk it."

He nodded. "Well, get ready." William pulled out his sword with a flare of smoke. Yumi countered, showing her fans.

Yumi threw her fans is separate directions, each aiming at William. He ran forward, swinging his sword towards her chest. She dropped down, swinging her left leg to knock both of his over, bringing him down. Yumi jumped back up, catching the returning fans in each hand.

"Heh," William breathed. He got up, laughing. "You improved as well, I see."

She smiled. "Of course. Shall we go again?" she asked, pulling her fans in front of her face.

William ran forward again, swinging into… thin air. _She just disappeared._ _But how?_

Yumi reappeared, holding a closed fan to his neck like a blade. "How do you think I found you?"

William fell forward just a little. Yumi pulled back, afraid of hurting him. Suddenly he turned, his sword just missing her stomach by centimeters. "William—"

She flipped over, dodging his sword again. Showing both her fans, she got into a defensive stance. "William! That could have finished me! I thought you said—"

Yumi gasped as he turned to face her full on. His eyes were clouded, the symbol of XANA in the center. He smirked as he swung at her, hitting his mark. "You're finished," William said with the evil tone in his voice.

Yumi was thrown back about 10 meters, dust thrown up around her. As she pulled herself back up, William turned into smoke, falling over the edge of the Replika.

-------------------

Jeremy was in his room, standing on the bed with his shoes off. This was the third time this week that his poster of Albert Einstein fell off the wall. He pounded the wall as it fell again. _The next thing I invent will be a way to keep posters on the wall._

As he jumped down from the bed, a beeping sound came from his computer. Jeremy ran over to it, typing commands. "Hmm, an activated tower." He reached for his cell phone, already dialing Aelita's number.

-----------------

Odd and Ulrich were sitting on a bench, talking. "So, how was your beauty sleep last night?" Ulrich asked.

Odd glared at him. "You know, you just don't understand the importance of always looking your best. You could walk around with bags under your eyes for all you care, but I want to look the best I can."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "Who's the girl?" he asked, smirking.

Odd's mouth opened. "I can't believe you! Just because I want to look nice doesn't mean…" he trailed off. "Her name is Natasha."

Ulrich nodded. "I knew it."

"But she's—"

"Beeeeeeee!!!" a little boy shouted as he ran out of the woods. "There's a giant bee chasing me!"

A hornet burst through the tree, but it wasn't any ordinary hornet. People began to scream as they ran for their lives.

"Hurry! We have to get to the factory," Ulrich whispered to Odd as they crept away.

---------------

Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd were all in Sector 5 of Lyoko. Two tarantulas were circling the Skid while a couple of mantines were attacking the core of Lyoko.

"All right, everyone, hurry!" Jeremy said to them from the supercomputer. "The last program I created to reconstruct Lyoko was so powerful that I don't think I could do it again. We have to stop them from destroying the sector."

"But where's the activated tower?" Ulrich asked him.

"It's in the ice sector. I've created a new program that can teleport you to other sectors directly," Jeremy replied.

"How did you do that?" Aelita asked.

"I found that when each of you enter Lyoko, your special abilities transfer into your DNA. For some reason these abilities don't carry to the real world, so the easiest way to say it is that each of you have two types of DNA: your DNA from birth, and the digital DNA from Lyoko. Also, your digital trace is actually a trace of your digital DNA, so by studying the trace, I can study your powers and see if they are developing," Jeremy replied.

"Our skills can develop?" Odd repeated. "That is so cool!"

Ulrich finally understood everything. "So is this what happened in Yumi's case?"

"Precisely," Jeremy replied. "Yumi's power of telekinesis has grown into teleportation, which is a very high feat. I believe this is how she escaped from the Skid. Perhaps she knew of the ability and wanted to test it. Anyway, by studying her trace, I was able to take a sample of her digital DNA and use it to create my program."

Jeremy typed commands into the keyboard. "Ulrich, you go for the tarantulas while Odd attacks the mantines. Aelita, prepare to be teleported."

"No problem, Jeremy."

"Roger."

"Can you stop talking now so we can get moving?"

"All right, Odd. Geez," Jeremy replied. "Teleport, Aelita."

Aelita was transported to the ice sector while Ulrich and Odd raced toward their foes.

----------------

Yumi pulled herself up, dusting off her clothes. She ran towards the building, opening the door with her handprint. Why did a tower have to be activated _now_? Just when she had begun to trust William again, he became controlled and almost destroyed her.

Running down the hallway, she continued thinking. There was something wrong with him when he lost control. He seemed angrier somehow, more violent. She gasped. Could his feelings be an echo of XANA's, or Delmass'?

She shuddered. That would take some time to get used to. Was Delmass mad that William told her about everything? They seemed to be pretty big secrets, and Yumi was on the opposing side. Would Delmass do something to William?

She wouldn't let that happen.

Opening the next door, she entered the room with the supercomputer. Logging on, she pulled up screens for each of the sectors. The activated tower was in the ice sector, but there was more activity in Sector 5. Delmass _was_ mad at William! Even if she told them what she knew, they would not be able to defeat him if he destroyed the Skid and Lyoko!

William didn't seem to have arrived yet, but Yumi had a feeling that he would turn up shortly. So far, there seemed to be—she counted the blinking red dots and examined the digital traces—two tarantulas and three mantines. Ulrich and Odd were taking on the monsters while Aelita was… teleported to the ice sector? Did Jeremy install a new program?

Breaking down the firewall, she hacked into the activated tower. Maybe she could reach Aelita before she activated the Code Lyoko. Linking the two programs, she yelled in frustration as the system shut down.

"It better work this time," she said while bringing up the program once more.

* * *

_So, what did you think? This idea came to me when some of you said the story was going too fast, so I thought of this part of the story. I'm guessing it will make the story at least 2 chapters longer. I was actually going to put more in this one, but I thought I'd save it for the next chapter. 1) It makes the story longer, and 2) I get to write another cliffie:D I keep getting a lot of weird ideas for programs and other things like that. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and please review!!_

_Rainfire_


	5. Yumi?

_Hello everyone! I hope you were able to realize that I changed my pen name. Thank to everyone who reads and reviews this story! You are all so awesome!_

_I'm sorry I haven't been able to update. I'm working backstage for our school's musical, and we just finished tech week. I had to stay at school until at least 9:00 each night. I actually have to go to a performance tonight, so I wanted to finish this chapter before I go._

_Some reviewers told me that I needed more description, so I tried my best to make this a better chapter. Thank you so much for all your help and support!_

_I do not own Code Lyoko._

**Chapter 5**

Aelita rematerialized in the ice sector, but the activated tower was nowhere in sight. A huge cliff stood before her, almost reaching the sky. There were no monsters here… yet.

Jeremy chuckled awkwardly, pushing up his glasses. "Uh, sorry, Aelita. It seems that my program still needs a bit of work. The activated tower is north, on the other side of that cliff."

Aelita smiled. "That's fine, Jeremy. Can you send me a vehicle?"

"On the way."

The vehicle materialized before her, each pixel filling itself into existence. "I'm glad to see that this program is working smoothly," Jeremy remarked.

As Aelita stepped onto the board, it suddenly dematerialized. She fell to the ground with a thump. "Ouch…" she breathed while sitting up.

"Oh, great," Jeremy said while trying to figure out the problem. "It seems we have bug in the system. Are you okay, Aelita?"

Aelita picked herself up and dusted her clothes off. "I'm just fine. I guess I'll have to reach the tower another way," she said while swiping the bracelet on her arm. Glowing pink wings formed at her back. She jumped into the sky, slowly climbing higher with each stroke. Stopping nearly a kilometer up, she looked to the north and saw the tower. "Jeremy, I see the tower."

"Okay, Aelita," Jeremy said. Turning his attention back to Ulrich and Odd, he said, "Be careful guys. There's a bug in the system."

"We're trying as hard as we can," Ulrich replied. "William just dropped by."

"Yeah, Jeremy," Odd said. "It's not like we're having tea and crumpets with him."

"Fine, just try not to mess everything up," Jeremy said while rubbing his temples.

"Wow, you're having an off day. Just relax, Einstein, and let us do the work."

Back with Aelita, she was flying over the cliff when a stinger shot right past her. She turned to see two hornets flying a few meters behind her. Turning to hover in the air, a glowing ball formed in her hand. "Energy pill!" she shouted while sending the ball flying towards them. It hit the one to the right, causing it to explode it into a thousand pieces. The one to her left accelerated, narrowing the gap between them. She turned and flew forward, trying to outrun the monster. Without warning, a stinger hit one wing, causing to fall to the ground.

Aelita stood up, noticing that she was right next to the activated tower. It seemed that luck was on everyone's side today. Before she could be hurt even more, she ran into the tower. The hornet, not realizing that its target was safe, continued shooting at the tower.

Floating up to the platform, she was about to initiate the Code: Lyoko when a screen opened up before her.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Aelita stared in disbelief at the screen. "Y-Yumi?"

------------------

Ulrich and Odd weren't having much fun where they were. Along with William, there were now three tarantulas while the hornet, finally giving up on Aelita, came to help. The two definitely had their work cut out for them.

"Any plans, Ulrich?" Odd shouted to him while jumping to dodge a stinger.

Ulrich grunted as he blocked William's blade. He jumped back into a defensive stance. "Not at the moment," he said while catching his breath. "We just have to stall until Aelita reaches the tower. She should be there soon." He swung the sword in his right hand, deflecting a missile from a mantine. "Just stay alive as long as possible!"

-----------------

Aelita couldn't believe her eyes. "Yumi? Is that you?"

The Yumi on the screen shouted for joy. "It worked! Oh Aelita, it's so good to see you!"

So Yumi wasn't virtualized for good, or lost in the digital sea, or worse. She was actually talking to Aelita, looking as fine as she did when Aelita last saw her. "I can't believe I'm speaking to you. You haven't disappeared!" She laughed with relief. "We've been worried about you, especially Ulrich."

Yumi's eyes widened. "Ulrich was worried about me?"

Aelita nodded. "He wouldn't leave Jeremy alone. But besides that, how are you able to talk to me? Where are you?"

Yumi tapped her foot against the floor. "Well, it's a bit complicated. I don't know exactly where I am, but I'm on some sort of Replika. Not only that, it's XANA's main headquarters."

Aelita gasped. "Have you seen XANA? What about William?"

"William was here, but then he came to fight you. He's still under XANA's control," she replied. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! I'm actually on a supercomputer right now!"

"But are you still in Lyoko?"

Yumi nodded. "It's amazing. It runs just like ours, and I can see what everyone is doing at the moment. Even Ulrich and Odd."

Aelita was trying to comprehend how this was possible. "Is it true you can teleport? Is that how you reached the Replika?"

Yumi nodded again. "I just tried to visualize myself with William, and then I teleported. But how did you know?"

Aelita was about to reply when Jeremy called her. "Hurry, Aelita!" he said through the computer. "William's about to destroy Lyoko!"

Aelita turned back to Yumi. "I'm sorry, Yumi, I have to go. But don't worry, we'll find you soon." She pressed her hand to the main screen.

"Wait, Aelita! XANA is-" was all that Yumi was able to say before the tower deactivated.

------------------

"...Mr. Delmass," Yumi finished, staring at the blank screen. She was so close, and now what? They still didn't know what William had told her. They don't even know that he is only partly controlled. She stormed out of the room, trying to work off her frustration.

Walking through the hall, she remembered what Aelita had said. Ulrich was worried about her? Maybe he was thinking about her as much as she was thinking about him. And how did they know about her ability to teleport? Snapping out of her daze, she noticed that she was staring at the tiles of the floor. "When did I...?"

She bumped into something about her height. Looking up, she began, "Oh, William. You came back..."

Standing before her was a tarantula. Since William hadn't come back yet, it wasn't tamed, and ready to attack her. It roared as it lifted its front legs.

Yumi crouched down, trying to shield herself. Then she felt... nothing. Peering up, she saw William standing in front of her, his sword drawn. The tarantula turned away, not intending to attack its master.

William turned around, extending a hand to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

Yumi grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. "I was on the supercomputer. I talked to Aelita."

William's eyes widened. "But how did you do that? I could never get that thing to work."

"Jeremy taught us how to use the supercomputer back home. It's just like this one."

William put his hand under his chin. "Hmm... that's interesting. Were you able to tell Aelita everything?"

Yumi shook her head. "No. Aelita had to leave. You were about to destroy Lyoko again, and she had to stop you."

He turned away. "I'm sorry. All I ever do is call you trouble." He walked away, out to one of the sectors to train.

------------------------

Aelita stepped out of the elevator with a big smile on her face. Ulrich and Odd had been devirtualized right before she activated the Code, so they were already standing there with Jeremy. All of them had frowns on their faces. "What's wrong? Why are you all so sad?"

"That's the second time we've seen William, and we still can't find Yumi," Jeremy replied. He took off his glasses, rubbing the lens on the edge of his shirt.

Wait a minute. Did they not realize that she was talking to Yumi? Was Jeremy not able to hear everything on Lyoko?

"And also, Lyoko was almost destroyed again," Ulrich added. "What took you so long in the tower, Aelita?"

This confirmed her suspicions. "You mean, you didn't hear her?" Aelita asked.

They all turned to look at her, confusion written on their faces. "What are you talking about, Princess?" Odd asked her.

"I was talking to her," she replied. "A window popped up and I could speak to her. She's on a Replika. There's a supercomputer there!" She was smiling so much it felt as if her face would break.

Jeremy finally understood, and smiled back at her. "I must run some more tests on Lyoko and the digital sea." He turned to sit back in his seat.

Odd, understanding as well, reached for him. "Oh, no you don't," he said while grabbing Jeremy by the collar. "You are not staying up all night on that thing. We have a test tomorrow, and I need to copy your answers!"

Ulrich, still with a confused look on his face, asked, "Wait, Aelita. Who were you talking to?"

Aelita walked over and grabbed Ulrich by the shoulders. "I was talking to Yumi," she replied. "She's fine, she's with William, and she's waiting for us to come for her!"

* * *

_So, it wasn't too bad, was it? The whole conversation between Yumi and Aelita was my filler idea when you all wanted the story to be longer. It also gave me more ideas for later on, so the story will have many chapters still on the way._

_I hope you like this chapter! Thanks for reading and please review!_

_Sophie :D_


	6. Discoveries

_Now I know you can't see me, but I'm mentally kicking myself right now for letting this go so long without updating. I had a bit of writer's block and almost no time lately from school and softball (for my high school). It just kind of snowballed. I promise you all that I will never let this story go for so long again. But anyway, I hope you like this chapter!_**

* * *

**

**Chapter 6**

The next day, Ulrich was sitting in class, thinking about what had happened. It's true that he was happy about Yumi being all right, but he wouldn't be completely satisfied until she was back on Earth. How would he do that? They still had no idea where she was, except that she was on a Replika, and it could be anywhere. They also had to locate William. Last time when they tried to track him, he just disappeared. His teacher's voice broke him from his thoughts.

"Black holes are one of the many mysteries of our universe," she explained to the class. "Not only are they nearly impossible to locate from their lack of light, there are only a few known to us. When Supergiant stars explode as a Supernova, the massive force of gravity causes the star to cave in on itself."

Ulrich had already learned this before, but he paid attention anyway. He needed to pass the next test, or his dad would get on his case again. He brought his head up as the teacher began drawing diagrams on the chalkboard.

"Black holes have the greatest gravitational pull in the universe. They suck in all matter near to them. The matter sucked into the hole is pulled apart and disappears without a trace from the universe. This is how we are able to locate them. We don't know what happens to the matter, and this is the greatest mystery of black holes."

Disappear without a trace? As the bell rang, Ulrich jumped from his seat, scooping up his books. He faintly heard the teacher mention a quiz for the next day as he ran out the door.

--

Ulrich flung open Jeremy's door to see him and Aelita sitting on the bed. They seemed to be talking at the moment, but they were a little too close to be completely innocent. Jeremy looked up, surprised.

Ulrich was slightly bent over, trying to catch his breath. He had sprinted to the dormitories from the science wing. He panted, unable to get his words out.

"Ulrich, are you all right?" Aelita asked.

He sputtered, forcing his mouth to move. "B... black... h-holes..."

"Oh, right, I missed class, and it was about black holes? I was working on a program, and then..." Jeremy trailed off, a blush on his and Aelita's faces.

Ulrich shook his head. He finally got his breath back. "Are black holes existent in Lyoko?"

"I've never seen them," Aelita answered, "but it's possible. We've still only explored about a fourth of the digital sea."

Jeremy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, sliding over to the computer in his room. "Hmm... black holes... a natural vacuum that sucks in all matter without leaving anything behind."

Aelita started at this information. "Like digital traces?"

Both the guys turned to look at her. "I think that could be what happened to Yumi," Ulrich said. "And why we couldn't trace William."

"I agree," Jeremy replied. "A black hole would describe how XANA was able to hide itself from us. We'll explore the set coordinates once I finish debugging the supercomputer."

--

Yumi had a hunch where William had gone. After waiting a few minutes, she followed, exiting the building and heading towards the forest sector. Following her memory, she went deeper into the sector until she found the stream. She was right, he was there.

William turned his head as she came up behind him. Unable to read her expression, he turned back to the stream. Yumi sat down next to him.

"You know, you usually don't act this way," she said to him, staring at the stream. When he didn't reply, she asked, "What's the matter?"

William kept his head down. "Do you blame me?" he mumbled.

Yumi turned to look at him. "For everything? Yeah, pretty much." Seeing his expression, she laughed, elbowing him in the shoulder. "Hey, I'm just kidding."

He shook his head. "But what you said earlier... you were right. I acted like an idiot. I just wanted to be able to protect you."

Yumi leaned back on her hands, stretching her legs out. "I don't really need protecting."

William covered her hand with his. "I know that. It's just, whenever you had to run off with the others, I felt so useless. I didn't know what you were doing, but I saw the toll it put on you. I wanted to help you, and be there to support you."

"William..." This was all too much for Yumi to bear. Pulling her hand away, she stood up, walking back towards the building.

--

"Yes, finally!" Odd shouted as they approached the Skid. "Operation: Rescue is a-go!"

"Don't get too worked up, Odd," Jeremy replied from the supercomputer. "We still have to make sure it is a black hole."

Odd put both hands behind his head. "Well, what else could it be?" Once they fixed the supercomputer, they called Odd, cluing him in. After that, they entered Lyoko, getting ready to dive into the digital sea.

Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd each stood on a transport pad, and were beamed into the Skid. Aelita checked the controls, making sure each was running smoothly. "All systems operational." She grasped the joysticks, rising to exit Sector 5.

A minute later, they were hovering over the digital sea. "Diving in five... four..." Aelita counted down, "three... two..." The Skid entered the sea, their view turning blue around them.

Jeremy typed commands into his keyboard. "All right, Aelita, I'm sending the coordinates to your front screen." They came up in front of her, along with her radar and position.

After traveling for a bit, two sharks showed on her radar, and the water turned red. "Just what I need, some more action!" Odd exclaimed. Aelita pulled down on the controls, releasing the two NavSkids. Ulrich shot off in one direction, while Odd went the other, luring the sharks away from the Skid.

Ulrich noticed one of the sharks on his tail. He turned into a nose dive, then forced the NavSkid back upward. The shark kept moving forward, so now Ulrich was behind it. He aimed, then fired one missile. It was simple and easy.

"All set over here," he said to Aelita.

"Me too," he heard Odd say.

Once they joined the Skid, it continued on towards their destination. "This almost seems too easy," Ulrich said. "Maybe we're being set up."

"Well, whatever it is, we'll take what we can get," Jeremy replied. "Right now, our main priority is Yumi."

"Isn't that a little risky?" Aelita asked.

"Whatever it is, I like it!" Odd replied. "Full speed ahead!"

--

Yumi leaned on the railing of the balcony, thinking about what had happened. It was so awkward. Does William have feelings for her? She liked him too, but with Ulrich... she couldn't explain it. _Ugh, why does everything always have to be so complicated?!_, she thought. She put her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to calm herself

Suddenly, Yumi heard footsteps walking towards her. Why did he have to come right now? He was the last person she wanted to talk to. With no way out except the direction he was coming, she was trapped.

--

The Skid was only a short distance from the coordinates when a window blinked out from Aelita's screen. She pressed a few commands, trying to get it back. "Jeremy, my radar isn't responding," she said.

"Can you see anything?" he asked.

She shook her head, then realized that Jeremy couldn't see her. "No, nothing at all," she replied.

An audible thunk was heard throughout the submarine. "We just lost the extra NavSkid!" Odd shouted over the intercom.

The other three winced. "We can hear you Odd, **loud** and clear," Ulrich remarked.

Then they felt a pulling sensation, guiding them forward. "We're being pulled by something," Aelita said, confusion in her voice.

"It must be the black hole!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Don't worry about it, guys, just let it pull you."

The pull became greater, tossing them as if they were a car on a roller coaster. Aelita had never liked roller coasters. She remembered going on one with her father when she was little. The results had not been favorable. She closed her eyes, waiting until the motions stopped.

Once they did, she opened her eyes, and gasped. "T-that's..." she stammered.

Jeremy brought up the camera on the Skid. "That's the Replika, XANA's headquarters."

--

Yumi turned back to face the scenery as William joined her. He stood next to her, leaning on the railing as well. "I was thinking about things after you left," he said.

"Oh... really?" she asked. Yumi couldn't bring herself to face him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him nod. "I decided that no matter what you say, I will always be there to protect you. No matter what happens."

She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes widening.

William gently smiled before lowering his head, easing his lips onto hers.

* * *

_Yeah, I know, you all now probably want to kill me about the ending of this chapter. Do not be discouraged!! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. ;)_

_Sophie :D_


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